Beef Wellington

Adam, very much enjoyed catching up on your log, I very much appreciate you showing how you approached the basic wood working of each piece for those of us not too familiar with basic techniques, you make it look simple!  A beautiful model you have coming together here, very much want to follow along.

I finally decided to get this ship her own table inside. I usually work outside on my third floor patio that I converted to a workshop (because we had a baby and the nursery is on the first floor adjacent to the garage where I would probably prefer to work). I couldn't run any machinery if he was napping. 
 
So I got a cheap table so I can drill into it as necessary. 

Just taking stock of all the superstructures and other details on this boat; this is such a rich subject. Think I’ll continue on with a little more amidships before starting the bridge structures. The Hobby Boss kit manual is very helpful for planning what goes where and the build sequence.

Looking fantastic!
 
BTW - you could honestly sell that ladder making jig, I would buy one!

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your encouragement and recognition. At the beginning of this year, I deliberately slowed down my work, working no more than eight hours a day in the studio to ensure long-term health and to avoid a significant impact on my eyesight. I hope to do more in the future.
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Looking fantastic!
 
BTW - you could honestly sell that ladder making jig, I would buy one!

Looking fantastic!
 
BTW - you could honestly sell that ladder making jig, I would buy one!

Looking fantastic!
 
BTW - you could honestly sell that ladder making jig, I would buy one!

Hi David,
For a relative newbie, as you describe yourself, your work is really coming on!  Many of things you are doing are way past some others with more years experience.  It is impressive that you are looking at alternative sources for contemporary information to built a realistic looking piece rather than just accepting everything that comes out of the box.
 
The drawings on the Wiki site have the most contemporary information if you want to delve further into the details.   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ship_plans_of_the_Royal_Museums_Greenwich   The Artois (Diana/Seahorse/Apollo et al) drawings are the last five on the fourth page and the first two on the fifth page.   For anyone interested, copy of the original 18 page contract for the Artois class ships, including Diana is available from RMG.
 
One thing that you may want to consider modifying if you can are the gratings.   Your coamings and head ledges look terrific.  For the gratings themselves, the  battens would normally be running fore and aft and the ledges athwartships rather than the other way around. Couple photos from a contemporary model at Preble Hall follow.
 
Allan
 

 

I started on the installation of the gun deck. I drew the planking pattern onto the false deck and then cut it in half lengthways for ease of fitting. I plumped for the top and butt planking for this deck noting the ambiguity in the AOTSD drawings. When placing the false deck on the model I noticed that some of the beams passed through the hatch openings. I relocated these with an inelegant detour although they would have had enough structural integrity as cantilevers and I probably could have gotten away with just cutting them out.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
I made up the hatches using the kit supplied gratings and used walnut for the coamings. I stained the gratings using Golden Oak stain although the wood used in the gratings does not take the stain that well. If I were to do it again I would cut the false deck back around the coamings so that the edge is not visible through the openings. I have just painted this black at this location but on the upper deck I cut the false deck back and introduced secondary beams for the coamings to sit on.
 

 

 
I started on the ladders that go between the decks. I thought that I had been diddled out of these as I couldn’t locate them on any of the parts sheets. After making the ladders from scratch I discovered the kit supplied pieces on a small piece of ply that had become stuck to the back of another sheet of parts. Looking at the supplied pieces I do not think I would have used them anyway as they were fashioned out of poor quality splintery ply. I built a couple of wonky efforts before I decided to 3d print a jig which enabled me to get the grooves in both the stringers align with a higher degree of accuracy. I then made another jig to hold the treads parallel to each other when fitting them to the stringers. This holding jig was not that successful and requires some redesign. I used 1.5mm thick walnut for the stringers and 1mm thick walnut for the treads.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I started to build up the inner bulwark using the AOTSD drawings as a reference. I knocked up a couple of gun carriages for reference so as to check the height of the gun ports as I went along. This is the first time I have had to deal with gun carriages and later on I will dedicate a whole post to them to highlight some of the trauma I experienced.
 

 

 

 
There was a great clash between some of the gun port locations and the bulkheads. I tried to overcome this without resorting to major surgery by shifting the critical gunports to abutt the bulkheads and then dispersing the others more or less evenly in the remaining space. I did a lot of this by eye, being too lazy to measure everything exactly, but this cavalier attitude did come back to haunt me when installing the chain plates and channels.
 
Having located the gunports on the inner bulwark I turned to the problem of how to position these on the outer skin of the hull. I noticed that a lot of builders complete the first hull planking and then cut the gunports out. I was not at all confident about my ability to achieve that with any reasonable degree of accuracy or safety so I decided to build the lining of the gunports directly onto the inner bulwark and then continue the first planking such that it butted against this lining. The thinking was that I could then dremel these linings flush with the first planking and hide the whole mess with the second planking. I think that the method itself is a workable solution had I gone about it in a slightly different way. What transpired was that I didn't account for the slight curvature of the hull and neglected to chamfer the sills of the gunport lining such that they lay parallel to the gun deck. If I was to do it over I would assemble the entire gunport lining off the model and then profile the one side to match the curvature of the hull so that they fit snugly to the ship with the top and bottom sills parallel to the gun deck. For the sweep ports I just used some 4x4mm square brass tubing to give me something to plank to.


 

 

 
Once I got going the first planking was uneventful which I will not dwell on here as there are a lot better examples of how to plank a hull out there. I should note that after planking the first side I did pause to install the ladders, as well as the eyebolts to tie off the end of the rope handrails, while there was still access from the side. If I had waited I could imagine dropping one of these ladders into the completed hull and never being able to get it out again where it would be doomed to rattle about for all eternity.
 

 

 

David, wlecome to the ever growing Diana/Artois club!  Great stat to your planking, those treenails looks very nice.  This is definitely a challenging, but fun and rewarding kit to grapple with.  I'm sure you've already looked at many of the build logs which highlight some of the unique challenges.  You cannot think too far ahead with this build, especially if you plan to make modifications!  You already point out probably one of the biggest initial challenges which is the astern alignment, so expect to have to make some adjustments there.  Establishing the position and alignment of the quarter galleries based on the run of the upper/gun deck will allow you to then establish the placement of the stern fascia.

Thanks again for the discussion on the quaterdeck scuttles and David, it would be great to see a log of your build of Diana.
 
Following on from the discussion on the quaterdeck scuttles, I removed the planking that I had so far laid and then the coamings. I filled in the spaces with scraps of ply (which would have been  lot easier if I had done it before fixing the deck) and started the planking process once again.
 

 
I had completed 6 strakes each side and decided that I wasn’t happy with the way it was turning out. There seemed to be a pronounced convex curve developing towards the stern on the starboard side so it all had to come off again.
 

 
I decided to start from scratch and check all my measurements across the width. I again took the average of three measurements at each station and found some differences so made up a new jig.
I shape 10 strips at a time starting with coarse grit sandpaper and then getting progressively finer. The first four strips either side of the centre line are laid without joins. Before moving on to shaping the next batch of strips, I have rechecked the widths and adjusted where necessary.
9 strakes on each side are now completed and I’m happier with the way it is looking. No doubt more adjustments will need to be made as I go along.
 

 

With the nomenclature conversation taken care of, the moulded railings needed to be made.
 
I refined my moulding cutter setup to work more efficiently.
 
I cut the moulding profile as before in a Lie-Nielsen tool steel blank. This steel is soft enough to shape with files, but keeps its edge for long enough for a run of one set of mouldings. It is also very thick, and so it does not chatter like thinner metals I tried.  I mounted it in a wooden clamp at what I determined to be the best angle of attack, with the clamp also forming a fence at right angles to the tool steel.

 
In my refined method, I built a jig that could be secured in my tail vise, and then three clamps hold the moulding blank against one side of the jig. I clamped the blank, projecting the exact thickness of the finished moulding above the jig, using a temporary spacer for accuracy. (In the photo below, you can see the profile previously used for a different moulding; I will just keep sliding the tool steel along as I need more profiles in its edge, until I don't have enough left to clamp in the wooden block.)
 
I have read and viewed reports from others using a scratch stock in a more free-hand manner, but my freehand efforts resulted in wavy surfaces up and down. I don't know if it is a lack of skill on my part, or I have unusually stiff wood, but I found that I really need the scratch stock to be guided with this fence arrangement to get satisfactory mouldings.
 
 

 
It was then a simple matter of pulling the cutter along the projected edge, using the fence to keep the cutter parallel to the blank, and cutting until the flat part of the cutter holder hit the top surface of the jig.
 
As before, I then cut off the moulding on the Byrnes saw, using a strip of paper against the fence to avoid discoloring the moulding face while rubbing against the aluminum fence:

 
And now perfect mouldings along the top of the waist, on top of the wider sheer strake: 
 

 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 

Pretty ingenious David.  It's good seeing you go through the experimentation to get what you were looking for.  They look far better than most, especially at 1:64. Can you make or are there other nozzle sizes so you can then make the various size treenails needed from 3/4" to about 1.5" or 2" ?
 
As to bamboo, when you say lathe, did you actually try to turn these?   Splitting bamboo skewers to a slightly larger than needed size then running through a good quality draw plate is fast work for those that do not have a 3D printer.  Making in the neighborhood of 10,000 treenails though may justify an investment in a printer. 😀
Allan

I have decided to attempt a build log. I learn so much from the build logs of other members that I felt that I should venture something in return so, after a gentle prod from Dunnock, here we go. I am fairly new to the hobby having taken it up two years ago. I had just completed the Charles W. Morgan which was very enjoyable and selected the HMS Diana for my next build as it is a very pretty ship. I did hear that the kit itself has issues but thus far it has gone together without too much trauma. I started this build in January 2021 so the first few posts will be a catch up to where I am now.
 
The book The Frigate Diana from the Anatomy of the Ship Series by David White (AOTSD)  is a very valuable resource for anyone attempting this build and is my first call for reference having more or less shelved the drawings and instructions. I also reference the drawings of the Artois class ships housed in the National Maritime Museum (NMM) along with photos of their collection of contemporary models and of course the wealth of information contained in the build logs of other members.

The basic frame went together fairly easily but I did have to use the heavy file to get the pieces to fit together. I introduced some balsa blocks to fill the bow and stern section as my hull planking skills are a bit shaky and I need as much help as I can get when tackling the complicated curves in these areas. I also sawed off the section at the bow and replaced it with a new piece made out of 5mm thick lime wood as I was not happy with the exposed edge of the ply. I wish I had done the same at the stern post.

 

 
 

 
I suspect that there may be something not quite right in the positioning of the rear deck that forms the lower edge of the counter. Having now completed the build in this area I found that the quarter deck galleries ended up sitting too high. There is a good possibility that this may be a result of my bungling but I have noticed this phenomenon in other builds. If I was starting again I would do a lot more checking of the profiles of the aft bulkheads against the drawings in the AOTSD and the drawings from the NMM. It is only around 4 or 5mm difference but it is quite a difference to what is shown in the NMM drawings. It should be noted that these sit a bit higher in the drawings for the Jason and the Seahorse but these are still lower than where mine ended up. I will just have to live with whatever I have as it is too late to go back and do any modifications.
 

 
The lowest deck can only be glimpsed through the gun deck hatches so I used this an opportunity to test out some planking mockups. I settled on a maple plank and I tried to give it a more distressed look using various stains and pastels but feel that the end result was a bit dark. I went a touch lighter for the gun deck itself. I am aiming for a more weathered look as I do not possess the mad skills required to produce one if those immaculate looking models and I can always pass off any wonkyness as an intentional depiction of wear and tear.
 

 
I wanted to add trenails but ran into a bit of bother. I have heard that bamboo skewers can be lathed down to an appropriate trenail size but that proved very time consuming and frustrating and didn't provide a very good result. I think that the skewers are best left for the Kebabs. I then tried some 0.5mm diameter styrene which was good in terms of a consistent shape and size but they were too white and I needed something closer to a 0.3mm diameter. While wandering about the supermarket I found a scrubbing brush that had bristles that were 0.35mm diameter which was an improvement on the styrene but still too white. I then went back to the supermarket and found a brush, which I assume is for cleaning bottles, that had natural bristles that were a better colour and the correct diameter if you could be bothered sifting through them. Despite the fact that they are too dark and painful to work with I ploughed ahead and completed half the gun deck before I discovered that I could get excellent trenail material if I ran the faux wood filament through the 0.3mm diameter nozzle on my 3d printer without printing anything. It is the correct size and dimension and they almost become invisible depending of the angle of viewing much like the real thing. They are a little light but it is as good as I can do.
 

 

 

 

 
As this is my first post I will stop here and submit as I am not that confident of success.

Till the end of March 2022 a great overview exhibition of the ship drawings and paintings by father and son Van de Velde can be seen in the Maritime Museum, Amsterdam (NL). While I am not sure one could build a model from this line drawing of a yacht by the son (made ca. 1675), isn't this an irresistible combination of technique and art? I could not resist sharing this with all of you, anyway.

16: Bridge (completed -- yay!!)
 
Okay, the last bits of the bridge have been added (for now -- some other bits get added later). These include navigation lights and some electronic doohickey on the forward bridge wall whose function I do not know. This wraps up Step 16. Whew!!

 
Total parts count for this sub-assembly came to 142.

A just-for-fun pic -- Waratah and England side-by-side in the same 1/250 scale. Remember, a DE is considered a small warship!
 

Are you heat bending the plank?   That will help.  I see several issues with your picture.  One is that first 4 bulkheads are "over" faired.  There's very little of the bulkhead making contact with the plank.   The other is, the plank at the bow also has very little on the end for gluing. 
 
You probably should fill in the areas between those first bulkhead include the area between the first one and bow.  This will give you more to glue and hold the planks.  Use basswood as it's easy to shape yet strong enough to hold unlike balsa.
 
I hope this helps.
 
 

Epic! Still in good nick too.
 

Endurance.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60662541

Hi Andy, that looks frustrating.  It seems to be that the kit curt part did not adequately account for the curvature of the hull.  The good part is when you make your own parts, there are never mistakes....not 🙂

Hey Mike, can definitely relate!  The CC Diana kit predates the precut strip approach and is exactly what you are dealing with.  What I found especially tricky was keeping the sides of the gunport vertical (parallel with hypothetical frames), but the top/sill parallel to the sheer of the deck.  Can't tell from your photos whether the rearmost ports are completely square or not from your photos.  Anyway, congrats on reaching this stage, looks more like a man o' war now than a bathtub, very satisfying I'm sure.